{SONDER} || Katsuki Bakugou x OC

|| CHAPTER 7: Give it Your All! ||

"I'll be honest... I don't really... know how to ''have friends'' either... All my classmates do anymore is have disdain for me."

"No way, you too?!"

Midoriya flinched a bit. "You're picked on? But... you're so cool. And your quirk is awesome...! Why would they wanna pick on you?"

Ito's smile wasn't there for long. "...I've encountered a few... problems throughout my time at Ikigai..."

"Oh... I'll be honest I didn't think someone like you had any problems... well..."

Ito looked over at Midoriya right as he did with her, causing both of them to make silent eye contact.

"I just thought you worked a little too much... 'cause, y'know..."

"Know what?"

"Well..."

"Well, what?"

"It's just..."

He didn't know if she was genuinely clueless or if she was purposefully oblivious to the obvious dark circles underneath her eyes, so he just looked away with a hint of embarrassed blush scattered across his cheeks.

"Nevermind."

"I mean, yeah. I do work very hard. Thanks for noticing."

Should I tell him his really loud crying caused me to crash into a vent on the roof of his school?

"But anyway," Ito crisscrossed her legs. "I mean... quirks don't solve everything. It gets me to where I need to be but... not to where I wanna be."

A bit of semi-comfortable silence fell upon the two before Ito cut it short.

"And you... Stars, you're so cool. I've only known you for a week and your modus operandi is so honorable. You kept going despite being bullied and told you couldn't be a hero... even without a quirk. I think that's single-handedly the coolest thing a person can do."

Midoriya grew bashful. "...Yeah. Thanks. Though, my dreams were nearly crushed yesterday, so..."

"Yesterday. Holy crap, that was a ride, wasn't it?" Shiina laughed and turned to Midoriya, almost already in a fit of giggling. "What kind of number-one hero tells a kid something like that? And on a roof? Did he even listen to you when you told him how your classmates treated you?"

"I mean, yeah it was a bit harsh but... It was the truth..."

"I guess so, yeah... but still! He could've put it a bit lighter without having to necessarily sugarcoat anything. But... I'm just talking out of biased morality."

There was another period of silence, this one a bit more awkward than the one from before. Until Shiina stood up and grabbed a famed certificate she earned for tossing the farthest hammer-throw out of all the competition.

"You know, I only won this one by... about a few yards. I can't remember exactly but... Father thought it was a decent throw for someone like me. Pfft, I'd like to see him toss like that... The throw was incredibly difficult to execute."

Midoriya stood up and looked at the same certificate with a sad smile. "Your dad doesn't really seem to appreciate you... does he?"

"...I guess not... I mean... I think so. But..."

"But what?"

Shiina sighed. "I'm not all too sure. He says he's busy and doesn't have time for things like that. If I think I'm doing a good job, then I don't have to waste his time by telling him how the progress is going. I just... keep going. It's weird and I don't understand his motives but... it is what it is."